The freshly discovered exoplanets orbit the star GJ 1002, which is at a distance of less than 16 light years from the Solar System. GJ 1002b, the inner of the 2, takes little more than 10 days to complete an orbit around the star, while GJ 1002c requires a little over 21 days. “GJ 1002 is a red dwarf star, with hardly one-eighth the mass of the Sun. The proximity of the star to our Solar System indicates that the two planets, particularly GJ 1002c, are exceptional prospects for the characterization of their atmospheres based either on their reflected light, or on their thermal emission. CARMENES has a sensitivity over a broad variety of near-infrared wavelengths which is remarkable to those of other spectrographs intended at identifying variations in the speeds of stars, and this allowed it to study GJ 1002, from the 3.5 m telescope at Calar Alto observatory.
Artists impression of two Earth-mass planets orbiting the star GJ 1002. Credit: Alejandro Suárez Mascareño and Inés Bonet (IAC).
A worldwide clinical team led by scientists at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has found the presence of 2 worlds with Earth-like masses in orbit around the star GJ 1002, a red dwarf not far from the Solar System. Both worlds remain in the habitability zone of the star.
The newly discovered exoplanets orbit the star GJ 1002, which is at a range of less than 16 light years from the Solar System. GJ 1002b, the inner of the two, takes little bit more than 10 days to finish an orbit around the star, while GJ 1002c requires a little over 21 days. “GJ 1002 is a red dwarf star, with hardly one-eighth the mass of the Sun.
The proximity of the star to our Solar System suggests that the 2 planets, particularly GJ 1002c, are outstanding candidates for the characterization of their environments based either on their shown light, or on their thermal emission. “The future ANDES spectrograph for the ELT telescope at ESO in which the IAC is getting involved, might study the existence of oxygen in the atmosphere of GJ 1002c” notes Jonay I. González Hernández, an IAC scientist who is a co-author of the article. In addition, both planets please the characteristics needed for them to be objectives for the future LIFE mission, which is currently in a research study stage.
Infographic comparing the relative distance in between the found planets and their star with the inner worlds of the Solar System. Planets of the Solar System: NASA.
The discovery was made during a cooperation in between the consortia of the two instruments ESPRESSO and CARMENES. GJ 1002 was observed by CARMENES between 2017 and 2019, and by ESPRESSO in between 2019 and 2021. “Because of its low temperature the noticeable light from GJ 1002 is too faint to determine its variations in speed with the majority of spectrographs,” states Ignasi Ribas, researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and director of the Institut dEstudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC). CARMENES has a level of sensitivity over a large range of near-infrared wavelengths which transcends to those of other spectrographs focused on spotting variations in the speeds of stars, and this permitted it to study GJ 1002, from the 3.5 m telescope at Calar Alto observatory.
The mix of ESPRESSO, and the light-gathering power of the VLT 8m telescopes at ESO permitted measurements to be made with an accuracy of just 30 cm/sec, not achievable with any other instrument in the world. “Either of the 2 groups would have had numerous difficulties if they had actually tackled this work separately. Jointly we have actually had the ability to get much even more than we would have done acting independently” states Suárez Mascareño.
Recommendation: “Two temperate Earth-mass worlds orbiting the nearby star GJ 1002” by A. Suárez Mascareño, E. González-Alvarez, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, J. Lillo-Box, J. P. Faria, V. M. Passegger, J. I. González Hernández, P. Figueira, S. Sozzetti, R. Rebolo, F. Pepe, N. C. Santos, S. Cristiani, C. Lovis, A. M. Silva, I. Ribas, et al., Accepted on 21 November 2022, Astronomy & & Astrophysics.DOI: 10.1051/ 0004-6361/2022 44991.
Other members of the IAC who have collaborated in this publication are the researchers Rafael Rebolo López, Víctor Sánchez Béjar and Enric Pallé.